HRC retrenches in face of Obama surge By: Mike Allen
Jan 7, 2008 04:31 PM EST
Clintons jointly crafting strategy to p
revent national stampede to Barack Obama in the wake of his Iowa victory.
NASHUA, N.H. –- Besieged by public and internal polls warning of a sizable defeat for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, she and Bill Clinton are jointly crafting a strategy to prevent a national stampede by Democrats to Barack Obama.
Numerous midlevel campaign aides and Clinton White House veterans, according to sources, are brushing aside lines of authority and reaching out directly with the senator and the former president with advice for how to right the listing campaign.
The emerging strategy — assuming the results are as bad as Clinton aides now fear — will start with a concerted plea to voters, donors and the news media to hold off writing campaign obituaries until after the Feb. 5 primaries.
This will be followed, according to current planning within the Clinton circle, by a mix of negative advertising portraying Obama as a conventional, calculating politician, and positive advertising emphasizing her strength and experience.
The Clinton campaign, which until now had been an orderly if sometimes dour operation, has in recent days evolved into something of a free-for-all.
At the moment, there are no clear indications that heads will roll in the campaign leadership, but it is likely that additional people with previous experience in Democratic campaigns will be added in coming days, Democratic sources said.
Clinton loyalists say the aides are reaching out to the Clintons directly because of resentment toward chief strategist Mark Penn, campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle and other members of the campaign leadership.
They were seeing polling data and getting reports from the ground but failing to react swiftly or smartly, according to critics.
One confidant described the dynamic around the Clintons as “middle management going straight to the chairman and CEO.”
A family adviser tells Politico that the senator and former president have taken a much more direct role in guiding and operating the campaign since she finished third in Iowa.
“They’re in their bunker, where they like to be — their backs against the wall,” the adviser said.
“The two of them have taken over the campaign and are now delegating to the campaign leadership and strategists.”
As a show of confidence about later contests, Clinton officials pointed out that they are continuing to hire staffers for Feb. 5 — sometimes known as Tsunami Tuesday — when Clinton expects to do well in New York, California, New Jersey and Arkansas.
In an echo of George W. Bush’s successful partisan-base strategy against John McCain in the Republican nominating contest of 2000, the campaign is going to pour resources into states where only Democrats can vote and nominating contests are not open to independents, as they are in New Hampshire and Iowa, according to the advisers.
The campaign will also promise to be leaner, more aggressive and more open, according to advisers.
Already, Clinton has begun moving in that direction by doing more interviews and by taking questions from audiences for as long as two hours.
Advisers say the campaign plans to emphasize strength and experience because they’re decided it doesn’t make sense to go toe-to-toe with the charismatic Obama on likeability.
Senator Clinton recognizes that there will be calls for her to leave the race if Tuesday night turns into a blowout, according to the advisers.
These advisers expect some prominent Democrats to say that she should not stand in the way of hope and history — that Obama would offer his party the surest chance of winning back the White House in November.
The campaign is rejecting that idea.
“We are going all the way to the convention,” campaign communications director Howard Wolfson said.
“The next stop along the way is Nevada. We have a great organization there and will be competing for every caucus-goer. Next is South Carolina and the Feb. 5 states. We have the resources and operation to compete across the nation. One state has spoken. Now the other 49 will have their say. This is a contest for delegates. We are ahead in that contest and expect to win.”
On Saturday, the campaign had been heartened that the first polls after the decisive victory by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the Iowa caucuses had not given him as big a bounce as they feared.
But on Sunday and today, a series of polls showed Clinton collapsing in New Hampshire.
She was tied at the end of last week, then down 13 points in a USA Today/Gallup poll out Sunday and 10 points in a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released Monday.
“Obama’s going to have a huge head of steam on Wednesday morning,” said a veteran of the Clinton White House.
“ has to make the argument that she’s the most experienced and then raise doubts about his ability to win and to lead. People are caught up in this. But sometimes rocket ships achieve orbit, and sometimes they don’t.”
The Clintons have begun taking quiet advice on a rescue plan from trusted outsiders who will not allow their names to be publicized, including veterans of the Clinton White House, according to Democratic sources.
“Iowa has opened up a floodgate of advice and ideas from friends and outside supporters who have been kept at bay until now,” the family adviser said.
“It’s phone calls, it’s e-mails, it’s BlackBerrys, it’s everything. People have been generally respectful of the process. All that’s out the window now.”
An exhausted Clinton showed what emotional times these are when she fought back tears this morning at a coffee shop in Portsmouth, N.H.
During a bus tour on the final full day of the campaign, a voter asked her about the struggles of running for president.
She replied that it is “not easy” and that she recognizes she faces “pretty difficult odds."
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